Since late February, we've been on an extended road trip through Australia and New Zealand. After about four months, we've come to both love and loathe different aspects of life on the road. For example: camping is awesome, but having indoor plumbing is nice too. And while we've learned to love holiday parks, some of which are truly fantastic (see earlier post), we also dread paying $40 for a night in one only to find the internet (which we often have paid extra for) doesn't actually work or that we've managed to pitch our tent under the only street lamp for miles around. But mostly, it's been a wonderful experience, filled with unplanned adventures, interesting people met along the way, and the occasional mishap.
We are returning our campervan in a few days, and won't be driving much for the rest of the year (except for a jeep trip in Mongolia, but that's a whole other story). And before we return this rumbling contraption we've called home for the past three weeks, we thought a few road trip fun facts and figures were in order. So here it goes... Driving around Oz and NZ, in a nutshell:
- 12,500+ kilometers driven (almost 8,000 miles)
- $1,700 spent on fuel
- 115 days on the road
- 30+ days of hiking
- 27 holiday parks
- 15 nights indoors
- 13 dives
- 12 (or so) national parks
- 7 wine regions
- 4 rental vehicles (two cars, two camper vans)
- 3 hitchhikers given a lift (plus the rescue of one stranded Australian couple in Tasmania, two lost Israelies in New Zealand, and a German woman who was way off trail on Mount Doom)
- 2 countries
- 1 speeding ticket (so far)
From Tasmania to Fjordland to Western Australia, we've been lucky to camp in a few amazing spots (sunset on the Indian Ocean from an empty beach, lonely Ozzie bush with kangaroos for company, bluebird days on Mt. Cook, sunrise on the pacific coast of NZ...). We've also meet some really cool folks. Like last night, when we met Glenn (and his dog Trixie) - a 50ish bricklayer/surfer from Tassie who was on the epic road trip of a lifetime, with the goal of surfing every great break in Australia. People like that are what make life on the road special. And above all, that's why we keep traveling.
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